Transcript
Thursday, August 1, 2024
15 minutes (audio)
[00:00:00]
Erin: Welcome to the ON Parliament Podcast, where we help spread the word on Parliament.
[00:00:12]
David: All of our episodes start and end with the sound of the bells ringing. But in our Parliament, when you hear the bells, it usually means that the Sergeant-at-Arms is nearby, especially first thing in the morning.
[00:00:22]
Erin: As a reminder, the Sergeant-at-Arms is the guardian of the Mace. And the person responsible for security in the Legislative Chamber and the precinct at large.
[00:00:31]
David: That's right, Erin. Now, if you've watched a session of our Parliament, whether in person, on TV or online, you may have noticed the Sergeant-at-Arms first thing in the morning, leading the Procession into the Chamber.
[00:00:42]
Erin: Now you may be wondering why we're recapping all of this for you.
[00:00:46]
David: Well Erin, we have a very special guest joining us for today's episode, our current Sergeant-at-Arms, Tim McGough.
[00:00:53]
Erin: Welcome, Tim. Thanks for being with us today.
[00:00:55]
Tim: It's great to be here with you guys.
[00:00:57]
Erin: Well, it's been about a year now since you started at the Legislative Assembly as our Sergeant-at-Arms. So how are things going for you?
[00:01:05]
Tim: Well, from my opinion, they're going really well. Time flies. I can't believe it'll be my first anniversary, June 19th. It's been great, been very welcoming here. It's a great place to work and I look forward to what the future brings.
[00:01:18]
David: Tim, you have an interesting background. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
[00:01:21]
Tim: Yeah. My, my background basically is, starts off with me being in the Military Police, the Royal Military Police, which is in England. I joined the British Army when I was 18 and I spent six years with the army and that's really how I got my introduction to Canada. Not many people know it, but the British Army has the British Army Training Unit in Suffield in Southern Alberta, which we go out in the prairies, and we go out and exercise. It's a battle group formation. Which means that we have anything from tanks to helicopters, to infantry, to artillery, and we go out there and we do live fire exercises. So being part of the army, I went out there twice back in the eighties. I won't tell you the exact dates cause that will date me too much, but I was young and back then that's really how I fell in love with Canada. And when I left the army, in six years later, it's like, where do I want to be? Do I want to stay in England, go back to England, or do I want to go and experience Canada? And I put in my papers and fortunately it was accepted and that's how I ended up in, in Canada.
[00:02:31]
Erin: Wow.
[00:02:32]
David: I was going to say something about the weather, but you adjusted to the cold weather okay?
[00:02:36]
Tim: Well, it was interesting. So, I had never experienced that kind of cold weather before I came to Canada. I'm from the Northwest of England in the Lake District where it's very humid, right on the coast near the Irish Sea. So, it never really got that cold. Maybe if it was a bad winter, it might be minus five Celsius. And when I came here and exercised in the 80s the first time, it went from summer, which is extremely hot in the prairies, to sometimes plus 40 Celsius, to minus 40 in the wintertime. And then when I was told I had to plug my car in, it's like, what? What is that? Right? So, you don't do things like that in Europe. You don't plug your cars in. But if you don't, out east or west, you, you're never going to start your car again. So, it took a bit of adjustment, obviously, and but now, it's coming back to Ontario, it's, it's almost like England again.
[00:03:31]
Erin: Okay.
[00:03:31]
Tim: Weather-wise.
[00:03:32]
David: Well, I'm going to ask you, how did you end up with the Medicine Hat Police out there in Alberta and some of the things you did with them?
[00:03:38]
Tim: I guess it's, it's really timing and opportunity. So, when I was a kid, I, I wanted to join, the local police. And when I was 18, I applied to join my local constabulary and they said, no, join the armed forces, go see some, go see something of the world, mature, come back, life experiences, and then we'll look at you. So, I did that. Okay. So, I emigrated to Canada after, and I knew I wanted to be in policing. So, when I got here, actually, I landed in Toronto, which is kind of interesting, because I took then the "Skinny Dog" or the Greyhound from Toronto bus terminal downtown, which is actually where I'm living right across from right now. I took it from there to Calgary cause that's where I wanted to go to school. And I thought it would be just a day trip. Turns out it's a three-day journey and it was not a lot of fun on a bus with vinyl seats and no air conditioning. It wasn't, it wasn't great. Basically, when you come to a new country, at least for me, I was on my own, it's what, what do you know, who do you know, and my only real reference was Alberta, and it was Medicine Hat because of the British Army being in that area. So, I wanted to go back to school, and in order to get back to school and get a job right away, I had to pay myself my way through school. So, I got a job laboring in Medicine Hat while I went to school. I worked in a greenhouse, worked construction, and then got enough money to go to school in Calgary and went to Mount Royal University there, took Criminology. So, at that time, you had to be a Canadian citizen to be a police officer. And I only had landed immigrant status. So, at the time, I was going to school and working. And then just through timing Medicine Hat Police Service was actually hiring at the time. So, I applied, and I got on, and the rest is history, really. So that, that's why that connection.
[00:05:42]
Erin: Well, what appealed to you about the role of Sergeant-at-Arms here in Ontario?
[00:05:46]
Tim: I'm a bit of a history buff and I liked the, the ceremonial aspect of it. The, the pomp and ceremony that goes along with it. Could it be the, the Speaker's Procession is interesting and, you know, the garb that you wear, uniform if you like in, in, in the Chamber. So, that part of it was interesting, but the behind the scenes stuff is stuff that I've been doing all my life in all my careers in policing and in the, the Royal Military Police when I was posted to London, England, it's very similar to what we were doing then in London, and now we're doing here. But in, in the entire city, there's a lot of ceremonial roles associated to what the royalty does and the visiting dignitaries to different areas.
[00:06:33]
David: Can you describe what some of your favorite parts of the role are? For example, any interesting traditions that you get to be a part of?
[00:06:40]
Tim: The, the Procession I, I find very interesting. I think it's, I like tradition, and I think tradition just really points us to where we've come from, so I like the fact that in Queens Park here, we still maintain that level of tradition, whether it be in the grounds or it's some of the stuff that we do, the parliamentary protocols that we have and that we uphold in the Chamber. So, I find all those nuances and those pieces very interesting.
[00:07:08]
Erin: How was your first Procession? Was that a shock the first time you had to do it or was it exciting?
[00:07:13]
Tim: I wouldn't say it was a shock. It was a little bit nerve wracking because Bruno, as you guys know, told me you got to get when, once you take off from the Speaker's Office, you got 2 minutes and 20 seconds to get to the Chamber doors. So, I came in on a Sunday before that the first day. And I was a little bit nervous about that because everybody's going to be watching, at least my guys are going to be watching me, LPS staff are going to be watching me. It took me about two hours of timing myself with my watch from leaving the, the Speaker's door, walking along the hallway up the stairs. And I couldn't get it right. I just couldn't get to that point. And part of my fear was as well, was tripping on the stairs as well. That would not be a good move. But we got there.
[00:08:06]
David: So, I guess, what was it like getting used to carrying the Mace? Is that you've, you've got that in hand now?
[00:08:11]
Tim: I do. I, it's, it's 22 pounds, which, you know, is not bad when you walk it from where you're going from the Speaker's to, to the Chamber floor, but I wouldn't like to carry it all day for sure.
[00:08:22]
David: What about having the sword as part of the uniform?
[00:08:25]
Tim: The sword, I think is actually, you can see, if you could see me now, I'm smiling, but yeah, the sword is a pretty cool aspect of the job along with the rest of the uniform that we get to wear and just as a kind of a heads up to the listeners as well, it's our 50th anniversary this year and we're actually working on a commemorative sword. Some sword that we're actually going to get made and it will be one of the, the new swords that we're actually going to use as part of my work uniform. Hopefully by September-ish.
[00:08:56]
Erin: What are some of the challenges that you've faced as Sergeant-at-Arms?
[00:09:00]
Tim: The, the challenges are more of a business sense so because LPS is quite big in, in numbers and also this position also looks after the PPB, so Precinct Properties Branch as well. I mean, those are almost diametrically opposed in, in their responsibilities and what they bring to the Office of the Assembly. So, getting an understanding and appreciation for the diversity of those, that role specifically with the two branches is a challenge, but fortunately for me, I have two, I, in my opinion, two of the best directors in the place. It's been working out very well. But that's a challenge or has been a challenge and obviously it's becoming easier as time goes on. But it's just the normal challenges that you would associate with having a business that, you know, has policies, their own policies and training and HR related issues and stuff like that is, is always part of the challenge.
[00:10:03]
Erin: What about in the Chamber? Have you had to confiscate any phones yet?
[00:10:06]
Tim: There's been lots of warnings going out. So yes, we've been busy with that. But I think most of them are simply they do it unintentionally and obviously they're all human and by accident, we just leave them on. Like one will probably start ringing right now, as we're sitting here talking.
[00:10:24]
Erin: Maybe.
[00:10:25]
David: So, talking about the chamber, you have specific responsibilities while in the House, also known as the Chamber, and different priorities outside of that space. What would people be surprised to know about the role and what you do every day? Anything that sort of is unusual or...
[00:10:41]
Tim: I don't think there's anything really unusual. I think they might be surprised at the complexity of the role. Mm hmm. I know in some of the jurisdictions the Sergeant-at-Arms simply does the ceremonial piece to that, and they don't have a large protective service that they are responsible for leading, and the same, they don't have the Precinct Properties Branch as well to, to lead. So, I think that from the outside looking in, maybe not so much the people who now work in the organization here, but outside of it, maybe outside the province, it'll be, it's, it's like, it's quite, quite the responsibility. It's a lot more involved than I anticipated. It's, that's one of the, I guess the main points I would, I would think is, is the biggest surprise to people.
[00:11:30]
David: And in terms of when the Members aren't meeting what does a typical day look like for you?
[00:11:35]
Tim: Well, it's, usually starts off like everybody else, you know, in the email, see what the, create that list of things to do whether it's going through and reviewing policies. We have a policy, policy analyst that creates the policies for us, and then we go through that with the lens of risking out some of the things that we do. Basically, if there's budget time, it's going through budget, business cases, what have you, the normal routine business stuff. That's what we, that's my normal day.
[00:12:04]
David: Anything, any specific touches you'd like to bring to the role going forward anything that you're looking forward to bringing and your own sort of putting your own stamp on it?
[00:12:11]
Tim: It's really not my own stamp. Because it's a team effort. I have great supervisors in LPS and in PBB. And they are, they are basically giving me the information we need to, to make the enhancements. Continuous improvement is the name of the game for us. And we're always looking at moving forward and making things better, not just for the sake of it, but the status quo is not where we want to be. We want to be leading in certain areas, whether it's in the heritage building aspects of things or whether it's in what we do in personal protection within LPS. So, it's not about me. It's about the organization and it's about LPS and what we do moving forward. So, no real mark for me, but a mark for us, just continuous improvement is, is the name of the game.
[00:13:01]
Erin: Well, thank you so much for being with us today, Tim, and talking about your role here at the Assembly. I honestly feel like I've learned so much.
[00:13:07]
David: Thank you very much for being with us today. I appreciate it.
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Erin: And thanks for listening to the ON Parliament Podcast, where we help spread the word on Parliament. But we've got to go. I think I hear the bells.
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David: Bye for now.
[00:13:26]
Erin: The ON Parliament podcast is produced by Parliamentary Protocol and Public Relations for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Social media by Parliamentary Protocol and Public Relations for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Additional research provided by the Table Research Office for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please support the podcast by sharing it with others and subscribing. For more fun facts about Ontario’s parliament, follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @onparleducation. Et en français : @parloneducation. Thanks again and see you next time.